Highest Rate of First-Day Deaths of Newborns in Africa - NYTimes.com

Too many babies in Congo don't survive their first day of life.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/world/africa/africa-has-highest-rate-of-first-day-deaths-of-newborns-report-says.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y&_r=0

More than one million babies a year die the day they are born, and the 14 countries with the highest rates of first-day deaths are all in Africa, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The five countries with the highest rates of such deaths are Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic, according to the report, “Surviving the First Day,” from the aid group Save the Children.

“Health care for mothers in sub-Saharan Africa is woefully insufficient,” the report said. “On average, only half the women in the region receive skilled care during birth. The region as a whole has only 11 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 people, less than half the critical threshold of 23 generally considered necessary to deliver essential health services.”